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The GIANT'S LAP-STONE - site of ( NZ653 074
approx)
This was the name given to a large boulder
which once stood alongside Baysdale beck on the North York Moors.
A legend (1) describes how the rock belonged to a giant who lived
in a cave on Stoney ridge on the moors to the south, and how his
daughter dropped the boulder beside the stream.
On top of the stone was a foot shaped cavity around two feet deep,
which tradition held, could determine a women's virtue, - in that
the foot of a virgin would not fit in the hole.
This may be a later moralistic addition to the lore connected
with the stone, but more interestingly women could seek the
giants blessing to ensure healthy children by performing a folk-ritual
which involved visiting the stone on a monday, climbing on top of
the boulder and reciting a verse, and finally throwing a left
shoe into the beck.
Unfortunately in the last century the boulder slipped down the
hillside and partially blocked the beck, which affected the
nearby ford, so the boulder was broken up to remove it.
(1)The Hand of Glory, J. Fairfax Blakeborough.
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